[단독]The minister is also said to be “subject to sanctions”… North Korean nuclear power plant alone?

It turned out that in 2018, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Seong Yun-mo said, “If related equipment is passed over (to North Korea) to build a power plant, it is subject to (North Korea) sanctions.” Minister Seong was inaugurated in September 2018 as the successor to former Minister Baek Un-gyu. Suspicions are amplifying over whether the government officials of the Ministry of Industry reviewed the construction of a nuclear power plant in North Korea, which is the subject of sanctions.

Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Sung Yun-mo attends the general meeting of the National Assembly Energy Special Committee on November 30, 2018, and answers inquiries. yunhap news

According to the records of the National Assembly on the 1st, Minister Seong attended the Special Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Committee on November 23, 2018, and reported on the review details of the plan to support North Korea’s power. At the time, Minister Seong said in a business report, “North Korea is highly interested in resolving the power shortage and needs a stable power supply when promoting inter-Korean economic cooperation in the future. Therefore, we will review various electric power cooperation measures and promote them step by step.”

However, during the question-and-answer process with the lawmakers, Minister Seong admitted that some of the methods of providing power were subject to sanctions against North Korea. In particular, he drew a line as “subject to sanctions” by referring to “power plant construction” and “transmission line renovation”. This is the answer to the question and answer with Rep. Ji-wook Ji (currently the head of the Yeouido Research Institute, the power of the people) at the time.

At this meeting, former Unification Minister Cho Myung-gyun also said that the international community’s sanctions exception recognition measures were needed to promote economic cooperation by exporting domestic equipment to North Korea.

Former Minister Cho replied, “Yes, yes,” when the Democratic Party member Yoon Hu-deok at the time asked, “Does the movement of personnel and materials for joint inter-Korean railroad investigations have to be approved by the UN sanctions exception?”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also recognized that the export of equipment for power supply to North Korea was subject to sanctions. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa, who attended the National Assembly’s Foreign and Transportation Day Committee on August 21, 2018, said, “It is a violation of (sanctions) that electricity and oil are supplied to the inter-Korean liaison office and technology and construction equipment are supplied. “Isn’t it necessary to request an exemption from the North Korea Sanctions Committee in advance?”

According to the clarification from the Ministry of Industry, controversy is expected as it was preemptively internally reviewed by government officials at the “idea level” of what the ministers of relevant ministries all perceive as subject to sanctions.

Shin Hee-dong, a spokesman for the Ministry of Industry, said at a briefing the day before (31), “The North Korean nuclear power plant document was also reviewed in terms of the idea of ​​cooperation in the energy sector, in case the inter-Korean economic cooperation becomes active in the future. Therefore, it has not been promoted by government policy.”

However, the opposition criticizes that “there is no possibility that the officials of the Ministry of Industry could have reviewed the material that the successor minister also said was subject to sanctions.” Rep. Lee Chul-gyu, an opposition party secretary of the National Assembly’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Small and Medium Venture Business Committee, said, “Ministry officials cannot come up with this idea. In view of the atmosphere at the time, it is presumed that it cannot be done without (instruction) that all ministries review these things and come up with a (plan) to help North Korea.”

Cheon Young-woo, former Blue House Diplomatic Security Advisor. JoongAng Photo Choi Jeongdong

Chun Young-woo, former chief of staff at the Lee Myung-bak administration at the Blue House, said on Facebook on the 1st, “If the Ministry of Industry reviewed legal and institutional norms that North Korea is well aware of, it would be alarming at the level of ignorance. “North Korea’s nuclear power plant construction is impossible under international law only by the removal of sanctions against North Korea by the United Nations Security Council and the United States.” “After North Korea completed the nuclear dismantlement, it returned to the NPT (Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Treaty), It is only possible when undergoing a full inspection by the organization).” “Even if North Korea returns to the NPT, it is impossible to build a’Korean light water reactor’ in North Korea only with the Korean government’s own decision. He added that the US cannot agree until the US-North Korea nuclear cooperation agreement is signed.”

Chun pointed out that, regarding the deletion of the related information from the Ministry of Industry’s officials, it would have been an attempt to destroy evidence that denied the justification and justification of the post-nuclear power policy.

Reporter Sung Jiwon [email protected]